Who says Canadian Politics is Boring?

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"Well, this is another fine mess you've gotten us into!" Those old words from black-and-white film days seem quite apropos today here in Canada.

Good ol’ collaborative and consensus-builder Stephen Harper (yeah… right) seems to have managed to propel us all into an interesting situation where whilst our parliamentary system is working exactly as it is supposed to, the spin and his ever-hardening position is inflaming the country. My oh my… these are elected officials, hu? Leaders, hu?

See, maybe I’m naïve, but I always figured that in a minority government situation, it was a fairly clear message to the party in power that the majority of the electorate did not believe the party in power had the absolute confidence of the majority of Canadians that its policies and direction were good for the country. After all, if the majority of Canadians thought it was all good, well, gosh, wouldn’t they have gotten a majority government? So, given, to put it another way, that the majority of Canadians said, “We don’t like what you’re offering, and don’t really want you there,” wouldn’t it behove the government to work with the other parties, and arrive at a direction that all could support? That seem sensible to me.

But instead of doing this, the Conservative government continued to taunt the opposition, and in its ‘economic statement’ show not only a lack of leadership and compassion to Canadians for the current global turmoil and uncertainty, but blithely continued its agenda of eroding rights and attempting to strengthen its position. And then our Prime Minister’s speech tonight, instead of showing true leadership, offered nothing but continued divisiveness, and an attempt to cast the whole Harper failure as a national unity issue. Spin, spin, spin…

So the facts as I see them are:

1. The Conservatives have a minority government. Thus, they must “play nice” with the other political parties if they wish to stay in power.
2. They didn’t, as evidenced by the other parties’ acts. If they had, then we wouldn’t be here.
3. Our parliamentary system is such that if the majority of Members of Parliament vote against the Government in a confidence vote (such as on the budget, or if there is a vote of non-confidence in the government), then parliament is dissolved, and the Governor General has the prerogative of either calling a general election, or asking the official opposition if they can form a government. That’s the way it works.
4. There is a certain degree of hierocracy in Harper calling foul at the coalition, as the Conservative Party has attempted to enter into the same kind of arrangement at least once in the past with the NDP and the Bloc Québécois when the Liberals were in power.
5. Things are proceeding as they should, legally, in our system of government.

So, what do I think should happen? Well, it’s a bit late now, but if Harper had been a real leader, he would have offered much more contrition in his speech this evening, admitted that the economic statement and the implications contained therein were, while perhaps he felt good for the country, not arrived at in collaboration with the other parties, that that was an error on his part and that he accepts personal accountability for that, and that he invites the leaders of the opposition parties to work with him to arrive at a direction that is good for all Canadians and acceptable to all parties.

Yup, I know, that’s not an easy thing, but it’s the right thing to do. Will it take work on everyone’s part? Sure… no doubt. But it’s the right thing to do.

So what should happen now? Well, Harper will meet with the Governor General tomorrow morning. It I was her, I would grant him his stay, with conditions. The conditions would be that he must enter into in-good-faith discussions with the other parties to arrive at a budget and direction that is satisfactory to all parties, and that he must do this immediately. Parliament must re-open on the 26th of January 2009, and he must survive a vote. If he does not survive that vote, then I would invite the official opposition to form a government. I would also speak to Layton, Dion, and Ducept and ask them to also enter into in-good-faith discussions, and if that did not happen (and yes, I’d be checking), then instead of inviting them to form a government, I’d call a general election. So everyone has skin in the game. And if anyone said, "Hey, you're overstepping your bounds", my response would be, "Nope, not per the Constitution, and by the way, boys, like it or not, you put me in this position, so given I'm here, I'm going to exercise my responsibility to Canadians."

Now, don’t get me wrong… I’m not a huge proponent of this coalition… whilst I think there are worse things that could happen, I’m not completely comfortable with the arrangement, simply because I’m concerned about its stability. It might actually work, and it’s perfectly legal in our parliamentary system and vis-à-vis our constitution. But it might fall apart. However, I’d make this choice because without the spectre of a coalition, I doubt Harper would really try to reach a consensus. I believe he’d be far more likely to spend the time whipping up the electorate in the hopes that he might eek out the extra few seats he needs for a majority. I don’t think that would be good for Canada. What would be better is if the Conservatives became more Canadian, worked for consensus, and helped the country. I don’t think Harper has it in him, and his speech tonight certainly didn’t do anything to make me feel any different. He missed his opportunity tonight. His credibility is shot as far as I can see.

So the question is, despite his loss of face and disastrous handling of this situation, does he have the courage and wisdom to do the right thing? I'm betting no.